


A Regular Robin Hood

by Eleos



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Facebook: Hermione's Haven, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 21:09:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19753873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eleos/pseuds/Eleos
Summary: While on her Prefect rounds, Hermione discovers George committing an act of Robin Hood-esque justice.





	A Regular Robin Hood

“George Gideon Weasley!”

George turned his head and grinned, his hands pressed against a stone wall. “All right there, Granger?”

“George Weasley, what are you doing—” Hermione paused. “You look like someone dropped a bucket of paint on you.” 

“Yes,” said George, whose arms, face, and torso were indeed dripping with sparkly red paint, which was splattering from a hole in the wall that he was unsuccessfully plugging. “I’ve, er, hit a bit of a snag during an act of vigilante justice.”

“Vigilante…”

“I was conducting some very professional business up in the Owlery when I overheard Montague bullying some second years. Apparently, John Stebbins has a Muggleborn friend in Ravenclaw whom he defends regularly to the older Slytherins. Montague sent some nasty stinging hexes at him and took 50 points from Isabella for ‘being a filthy Mudblood.’”

“That’s awful! Let me guess: Montague got off scot free?” 

“Right.”

“And now you’re...exacting your own justice?”

“Precisely. This wall will spray Montague in Gryffindor red when he walks by on his way to breakfast tomorrow. But the paint is also sticky, so it should trap his feet to the ground so he can’t get away.” 

Hermione shook her head. It was rather clever, but still. “Let’s set aside that you’re breaking at least five school rules. At _least_. You’re actually defending a Slytherin?”

George shrugged. “It does feel a bit wrong, now that you mention it, but...it’s not his fault he was born into a family of Pureblood bigots, is it?"

“Well, I suppose not.” 

“Stebbins is a bit of an arse, but overall he seems like he’s got his head on straight. And Montague _definitely_ deserves it, the bastard.”

Hermione was embarrassed to admit she’d barely noticed Stebbins or Isabella being bullied, though as a Prefect she felt she ought to have done so. Had she just written him off as another snake, unable to conceive he could grow up to become someone different? 

“So, if Montague is trying to beat Stebbins into being a proper Slytherin bastard, I’m gonna paint him into corner to make him a proper Gryffindor.”

“That’s—” Hermione started. “That’s actually kind of thoughtful, in a twisted way.” 

“So surprised I could do something nice, Hermione?” He winked.

“N- no, of course not, George.” Hermione pointedly ignored the warm feeling in her chest at the sound of her first name on his lips. “I know you’re a good person deep down…even if you have a funny way of showing it sometimes.”

“You wound me.” George put his hand to his heart, then immediately stuck it back to the wall as the paint gushed out. 

“Oh, let me help you.” She used her wand to vanish the remaining paint. 

George visibly relaxed, wiping a hand across his forehead and smearing paint all over it in a bright red streak. Hermione had to admit his theatrics were kind of endearing.

“Thanks...even if you don’t have any faith in my Robin Hood-esque gallantry.” 

“Robin Hood-esque? I’m honestly a bit surprised you know who that is.”

“I took 3 years of Muggle Studies." He puffed out his chest. "And so I’m defending the weak, the bullied, the defenseless by pranking the bigots, the bullies, and _most_ of the Slytherins...and Ronniekins too of course, but that’s just because he’s family.” George winked.

Hermione laughed in spite of herself. “I still can’t endorse this behavior, you know.”

George leaned against the wall, grinning lazily. “I know you’re here on official Prefect business, Hermione, but I think there’s room for us to compromise,” George said. “Some may think you’re stubborn, a bit stuck up, a wet blanket—” 

She cleared her throat.

“But I know what you, Ron, and Harry get up to under that invisibility cloak. And I know what you did to Rita Skeeter.”

Hermione blushed. She'd done those things for very good reasons. To defend Harry against the slanderous lies of that bug... 

“And that’s why I’d like to enlist your help.”

“My help?” Hermione asked. “With your _prank_?”

“With my Robin Hood-esque act of chivalry and justice,” he corrected. “And as you can see, I’ve had a bit of trouble getting the paint to stay inside the wall until the correct person approaches.” 

Hermione hid a grin. “As much as I sympathize, I’m a Prefect, George.”

“All the more reason for you to become an agent of justice with me.” George laid his hand on her arm, his grin spreading to his bright blue eyes. She shivered. 

“I don’t know...”

“C’mon,” he said. “Even if you won’t do it on principle, I know that brain of yours is already working on how to execute this prank. It’s a puzzle, and you want to solve it.”

Hermione bit her lip. He was right, and it made her feel...something...that he knew it. “Well,” she said eventually. “I certainly couldn’t condone this sort of prank, but if we just _happened_ to be talking about the efficacy of sticking charms, and I _happened_ to mention that these charms react erratically when you layer other spells on top...”

George’s eyes glinted. “What would one do then, hypothetically, if they wanted a substance to stick until a certain person appeared?"

“I’d suggest they use a sticking potion instead, which is a much more stable base for identification charms.”

“Looks like I’m going to be up late brewing tonight.” George grinned. “But of course you wouldn’t condone such a thing.”

“No, certainly not,” Hermione said. “But I do condone studying charms. And potions. Your education is very important.”

“And if I wanted to revise with you again sometime?” George asked. He looked surprisingly earnest.

Hermione considered this. She’d never really given any of Ron’s brothers much thought, but her conversation with George had been much more intellectually stimulating and emotionally mature than she’d expected. Maybe she'd judged him too quickly... “Well, I suppose that sounds all right.”

George winked. “Just wait—you’ll be a regular Robin Hood in no time.”


End file.
